An example of a prior connector of the general type is taught by U.S. Pat. No. 5,120,232 issued to Korsunksy in 1992 and comprises first and second intermatable connector members including first and second insulating housings, respectively, with first and second mating and lead faces, respectively; a row of terminals and a row of ground plate portions retained in each housing, extending in spaced apart, side by side relation. When the connector members are mated, the corresponding terminals of the two connector parts electrically engage each other and ground plate portions of the two connector parts electrically engage each other. Since the ground plates are connected to the ground circuits of the circuit boards and form electrical shields between the terminals, signal cross-talk between the terminals is reduced or prevented and a high-density arrangement of the terminals is feasible.
Ground plate portions of the first and second connector members are each stamped and formed from a single piece of sheet metal and have resilient and essentially rigid contact portions, successive of which are staggered so that alternate contact portions are laterally offset from each other on respective opposite lateral sides of a center line of the row thereof. When the connector members are mated, the essentially rigid second ground plates are interwoven between the resilient contact portions of the first ground plates, so that the contact between the ground plate portions is performed securely.
However, as the second ground plates are interwoven with the first ground plates, the structures of the ground plates are relatively complex, requiring a manufacturing process involving staggered bending which can be relatively difficult.